| CHRISTIAN LIFE AND DOCTRINE | November 1998 |
Champions of the Faith
A Few New Testament Examples
THE MOST OUTSTANDING New Testament example of a champion of the faith is Jesus, who is our Redeemer and Head. Not only did God reveal the ‘light’ to him in a marvelous manner, but he was faithful to the obligations the truth exacted of him. To Jesus, even as to Ezekiel, the heavens were opened, and in a more outstanding manner. Jesus, unlike the prophets, anticipated the privilege of service, and was alert to ascertain the Father’s will. “Lo, I come,” wrote the psalmist concerning him, “to do thy will, O God.”—Ps. 40:4-8; Heb. 10:5-10
In these words we have expressed the true spirit of consecration. While no one is called into Divine service without being shown the necessary light by which he is enabled to serve acceptably, it is also true that the beauties of the Divine plan are revealed only to those who indicate their willingness to do the will of God. True consecration is not making a bargain with the Lord, but it is a wholehearted expression of our desire and determination to do his will, ever and always, regardless of what that will might be, and what our faithfulness in doing it might cost.
THE HEAVENS OPENED TO JESUS
This is the thought expressed in the words, ‘Lo, I come to do thy will, O God’. In a general way, Jesus knew considerable even before this concerning the plan of God. He realized that he had come into the world to perform a special mission, and at the age of twelve was concerned about his “Father’s business.” (Luke 2:49) But not until the proper time came, and he demonstrated his willingness to do the Father’s will, were the heavens opened so he could behold the glory of God and learn the details of the Divine mission which had been assigned to him.
How wonderfully faithful was Jesus in meeting the responsibilities imposed upon him! Peter epitomized the Master’s life in one short statement: He “went about doing good.” (Acts 10:38) We cannot imagine the Master doing anything else but good, even as God has always been doing good to his creatures. He is the giver of every good and perfect gift. (James 1:17) The greatest good the Creator had purposed to do for the human race was to be accomplished through Jesus, and it was inevitable that every detail of Jesus’ life of faithfulness should exemplify the spirit of benevolence, and together add up to make that one great sacrifice which was consummated at Calvary—that good deed which was meritorious to redeem the whole world from sin and death.
When on the cross Jesus cried, “It is finished,” he had reached the end of a life of sacrifice to which he had been inspired by the ‘light’ which had been shown him when the heavens were opened. He had seen the meaning of that vision, and forthwith bound his sacrifice to the altar until it was wholly consumed. While it is true that the completion of his sacrifice at Calvary was a wonderful event, and somewhat spectacular when compared with the lesser deeds of love which made up his everyday life, nevertheless it was these that helped to prove his faithfulness, and they led up to that glorious consummation which made him the Redeemer of the world.
THE NIGHT COMETH
As we join that little band of disciples which followed so closely to Jesus and observed the details of his life, we note his untiring zeal and devotion to God and to the service which had been given into his hands. He said: “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is called day: the night cometh, when no man can work.” (John 9:4) In the first instance, Jesus used these words with reference to his own earthly ministry. His ‘night’ came when he was arrested and crucified. To him the night had settled down only when it was impossible to say anything further concerning the plan of God. Even while hanging on the cross, Jesus preached a wonderful sermon on restitution to the thief when he said to him: “Thou shalt be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43) The thief will be given an opportunity to enjoy everlasting life here on earth when Jesus sets up his kingdom.
The ‘works’ of the Father, which Jesus was commissioned to do, were the preaching of the kingdom message—illustrating them by his miracles—preparing the disciples to be his ambassadors after he returned to his Father; and giving his flesh for the life of the world. In carrying out this mission he was never guided by his own preferences. He was glad to toil and suffer as the Heavenly Father indicated it to be his will. He did not purposely expose himself to danger before the due time. He did not court persecution just to be a martyr.
Jesus loved all mankind and would have gladly preached the kingdom message to Gentiles and Jews alike, but he recognized the times and seasons of the Divine plan and was guided by them. Hence, Jesus said to his disciples, “Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”—Matt. 10:5,6
In all these ways we can with spiritual profit follow the example of Jesus. Like him, we should work while it is called day, for we also know that the night cometh wherein no man can work. For some of us this might well be when we have reached the end of the way, or when the great ‘time of trouble’ settles down upon the whole earth with such devastating effect that it will no longer be possible to bear witness to the truth. In either case, we are not to cease telling the glad tidings of the kingdom as long as it is physically possible.
Time prophecies of the Divine plan served to guide the Master with respect to the need of withholding the Gospel from the Gentiles until the full end of the seventieth prophetic week. (Dan. 9:24-27) But when he told his disciples that they were to go into all the world to preach the Gospel it was the Divine intention that this commission was to remain in effect until the last member of the body of Christ has finished his course. There is no time prophecy that is intended to set aside this inspired commission.
True, the preaching of the Gospel accomplishes a different result now than it did in the beginning of the Gospel Age. In the Divine providence, the kingdom message does a sowing work at one time, and a reaping work at another time. Besides, the Gospel today includes dispensational truths which were not due to be understood earlier in the age, and would have been untimely to preach, even if known. But these slight variations in the message, and the different results of our labors, do not change the commission to let our light shine before men by holding forth the Word of life in the midst of this crooked and perverse generation.
SAUL SAW THE LIGHT
In the experience of Saul of Tarsus we have another example of one to whom the Lord revealed the light of truth, and who, in turn, bound his sacrifice to the altar. It was a glorious vision that was given to Saul. He saw a light shining above the brightness of the sun at noonday. He heard a voice speaking to him—the voice of Jesus of Nazareth whom Saul was persecuting. He even caught a glimpse of the glorified Jesus, seeing him as “one born before the due time.”—I Cor. 15:8, (marginal translation)
Saul was quick to grasp the meaning of this wonderful experience. He was doubtless well acquainted with the manner in which God dealt with the ancient prophets, and knew that an experience of this kind could mean only that he was being called into a special Divine service. Realizing this, he inquired, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” (Acts 9:6) This is the meaning of revealed truth. Are you rejoicing that the eyes of your understanding have been opened to behold the beauties of the Divine plan, and through the truth, to discern the glory of God? Continue to rejoice, but remember that this blessing is yours because God has something for you to do, not a mission as great as that assigned to Saul, but one nevertheless that will become great in the Lord’s sight as you prove faithful to it. It is a mission that will require the remainder of your life to perform.
PAUL, CHAMPION OF THE FAITH
From the day that Paul accepted the responsibility imposed upon him by the light from heaven, he was a bond slave of Jesus Christ. He had no other mission in life but to seek “first the kingdom of God.” (Matt. 6:33) How true were his words, “This one thing I do”! (Phil. 3:13) Whatever of material needs confronted the apostle, he treated them as mere incidentals upon which as little as possible of time and attention should be spent, his chief concern ever and always being the ‘one thing’ to and for which he had been called of God. This is why he could testify to the king and tetrarch of lands comprising present day Palestine, “I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.”—Acts 26:19
Paul knew that the ‘heavenly vision’ was not given to him merely for his own benefit, for he realized clearly that he was called to be an ambassador for Christ. The Lord asked Ananias to tell Paul what great things he was to suffer for the cause of Christ, and in order for this to be true it was essential for him to make known the Gospel of Christ. (Acts 9:15,16) It was Jesus’ faithfulness in letting his light shine that led him to Calvary, and Paul’s faithfulness along the same line that led him to the Roman prison and death. Any Christian can escape the privilege of suffering with Christ simply by neglecting to hold forth the Word of life. And it is well to remember that it is only those who suffer with Christ who will reign with him.
THE APOSTLES’ EXAMPLE
The progress of truth throughout the ages has not been gradual, but rather it has been intermittent and dispensational, and as the Lord has revealed it to faithful servants of his own choosing. Thus God used the prophets, and to each of them he gave a special message that was due and needed at the time. Isaac and Jacob, for example, did not, through their own studies, increase the light that was given to Abraham. The privilege of the children of Israel was to be faithful to the light that God gave to them through Moses, not to change or add to it. They failed because they were unfaithful to that light.
There was a marvelous revelation of truth through Jesus, and from Pentecost on, through the apostles. This was by special revelation, and in keeping with important time features of the Divine plan. It was not to be expected that following the death of the apostles the light would increase through the efforts of some of the brethren remaining to delve into the mysteries of God. The responsibility of the Lord’s people, on the other hand, was to hold fast to what had been revealed to them through God’s specially chosen servants. It was because some of them failed in this that a great apostasy developed.
While God’s rich blessing was upon the faithful members of the church throughout all the age, no further outstanding revelation of the truth occurred after the apostles died. It was a case of holding fast rather than making progress. Church history reveals that there were individuals in every part of the age who held to the great kingdom Gospel as taught by Jesus and the apostles, despite the errors with which they were surrounded. These were the wheat which, according to Jesus’ parable, were to grow together with the tares.
THE END OF THE AGE
In the end of the age however, another special revelation of truth was due, and was foretold by Jesus in one of his prophecies concerning the time of his Second Presence. He said that he would come forth and serve the household of faith with “meat in due season.” (Luke 12:37, Matt. 24:45) One of the great truths which was ‘due’ to be understood now was the hope of restitution blessings for the world. The Early Church understood this but it was measurably lost sight of throughout the age by all except possibly a very few. In the end of the age, however, it was important that the church have this doctrine restored, because soon humanity would enter into restitution blessings.
The promised ‘meat in due season’ included a clearer understanding of all the great fundamentals of the Divine plan. This “heavenly vision” which has been given to the church in this end of the age through “that faithful and wise steward” embraces all the precious items of truth as they were known to the various servants of God in the past. (Luke 12:42; Matt. 24:45) It has given us an enhanced appreciation of the Abrahamic Covenant. We understand the purpose of the Law Covenant, and why it was added to the original covenant made with Abraham. We now understand the real purpose of the first advent of Jesus and why his kingdom was not established in power and great glory at that time. We understand that the purpose of the Gospel Age was not to convert the world, but to select a people to be the bride of Christ and to share the glory of his kingdom.
How glad we are to have so clearly established that fundamental fact of truth that the “wages of sin is death” and not eternal torment! (Rom. 6:23) The Early Church understood this, but during the Dark Ages it became buried in the rubbish of human tradition.
OUR LORD’S RETURN
How satisfying is the truth pertaining to the manner of our Lord’s return, and that he is even now present as a “thief in the night,” leading his people as Chief Reaper in the prophetic harvest which is the end of the age! (I Thess. 5:2) The harmony of all these great truths and the special beauty with which they have been made to shine in this due time of the harvest has not been the result of the laborious study of all the Lord’s people, but by a special dispensation of Divine grace reaching us through the returned Lord who used ‘that servant’ to minister this rich portion of spiritual food to the household of faith.
PRESENT DAY CHAMPIONS
Let us rejoice in this heavenly vision, but let us remember that if our ‘eyes’ have been blessed to ‘see’ the truth, if we are among the favored few to whom the Lord has shown the ‘light’, it is because he wants us to sacrifice our all in his service, to bind our sacrifice with cords “even unto the horns of the altar.” (Ps. 118:27) It is just as true of us now as it was of Noah, Moses, the prophets, Jesus, and the apostles, that God has revealed his plan because he wants us to cooperate in it; so let us endeavor not to be disobedient to the ‘heavenly vision’.
We should see to it that our lives conform to the high standards of righteousness set forth in the Word of God. We should add to our faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge self-control, and to self-control patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. If these things be in us, and abound, we will not, according to the Greek text, be “idle” in the knowledge that has been given to us; that is, we will be using it in keeping with the Divine will, and that will is that we proclaim the truth to all the world as a witness.—II Pet. 1:4-8
Let us not be misguided by human philosophy which seeks a method of getting into the kingdom without sacrifice and suffering, and decides that it is no longer the Lord’s will for his people to let their light shine for the blessing of others. Let us realize that Satan, the prince of darkness, is back of all such philosophy. He confuses the truth in our minds if he can, and when he gets us to believe error, he is quite satisfied that we proclaim it far and wide. But when he finds that we are determined to hold to the purity of the truth, his next effort is to make us believe that it is wrong to preach it to others. If Satan can keep the truth shut up in our hearts, he is almost as pleased as though he had induced us to discard the truth and accept error instead.
The Apostle Paul said of himself, “Woe is unto me, if I preach not the Gospel,” and that is just as true of every one of us today. (I Cor. 9:16) The opportunity is still ours to let our light shine. To Ezekiel the Lord said, “Whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear,” and that is true of us also. (Ezek. 2:5) We are not to judge the Lord’s will in this matter by the results secured. The only result may be the proving of our own faithfulness to the heavenly vision. At times, and for our encouragement, the Lord may give us the privilege of seeing some results from our efforts, but whether he does or not, let us continue to be faithful in binding the sacrifice ‘even to the horns of the altar’. Surely, the Lord has shown us the light, so let us be faithful to it even unto death, and thus receive the “crown of life.”—Rev. 2:10